ASOS was funded as the marketplace for young adults, and since 2000 they have expanded their international network with online marketplaces in France, Germany and the United States in 2010, and Australia, Spain and Italy in 2011. The English marketplace aims to bring together the best independent labels and vintage selections. If you match this type of clothing business, selling your products on ASOS marketplace can be a great opportunity for your multi-channel strategy.
In addition, the 'independent' label is not so exclusive, because on ASOS you can found garments of lesser-known brands along with high street labels. The only requirement is that your products must be for men or women, since the marketplace stopped selling kids clothing a few years ago.
How to sell your products on ASOS marketplace and what are its advantages for an omnichannel e-commerce strategy? We’re here to help you!
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ASOS uses the term boutique instead of store. You can request access to the marketplace and the ASOS team will study if you comply with the seller's conditions. The process usually takes up to 3 working days and you may be asked for more information or materials about your brand. You have to prove that you own an original clothes, shoes, handbags or jewelry brand, or that you sell original third-party brands, not counterfeit goods.
Once you get access, you will have your own administration account where you can start uploading your products and activate them for sale. All payments are managed by PayPal or Stripe, so you must create an account if you don’t have one yet. An Assistant Manager will guide you through the first steps. Active listings have a life cycle of 120 days — if you don’t sell any item after that time, the listing expires (you can extend the period for 30 more days or add the items to the "Clearance" category).
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The requirements for selling on ASOS aren’t more demanding than other e-commerce marketplaces, and nor as complex as Amazon.
Complete product descriptions and a precise sizing chart are your musts for product pages on ASOS, as you’d do on any e-commerce marketplace.
As a fashion marketplace, Asos has a very studied design, and product images are one of the most demanding topics for selling on ASOS. One of the main drawbacks of marketplaces like Amazon is the lack of image quality, while ASOS is famous for the visual experience that they offer to customers.
These are some of their style guides:
Another essential condition as a seller on ASOS marketplace is that you must offer your own customer service, and you should meet the minimum quality (queries must be answered in 1 day). If you leave customers dissatisfied or annoyed, or if you receive too much justified negative reviews, the marketplace may expel you.
Products in stock must be ready for shipping within 2 working days. You must manage shipments and returns (which have a maximum period of 14 days), since ASOS doesn’t offer its own service, like Amazon. However, this gives you freedom to mark the shipping costs you want (although you should study your competitors and see if they are offering more attractive conditions). If there’s any dispute between you and a client, the issue will be resolves through PayPal, not ASOS.
Finally, keep in mind that the marketplace has a cruelty free policy, so you can’t sell any product with animal fur, leather or skins, even if they’re vintage.
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ASOS encourages boutiques to create a unique and high quality imaginary, and advises sellers that they should promote themselves through their own social networks, always quoting ASOS. However, you can also pay to have your products featured on the main Homepage, on the Women and Men Homepages, and the boutique directory.
ASOS marketplace offers a site-wide sales twice a year, so you can add your products and attract more sales. A few days before it starts, they will notify you so that you can prepare what products you want to add to the sale.
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